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Louis "Rudi" Leviticus

In October 1942, Louis Leviticus, aged 11, escaped a police raid in Amersfoort, Netherlands, where his family was hiding from the Nazi onslaught by jumping off a 3rd floor veranda from their apartment. An awning broke his fall allowing him to escape. He never saw his parents again. Finding his way to the Dutch underground, Lou survived the war under false identity. He was known by his undercover name, “Rudi,” to his friends and family throughout his life. Later, he was sent to Israel from a Polish orphanage. Lou served in the Israeli army and studied engineering at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology. After earning his Ph.D. at Purdue University, Lou served as director of the University of Nebraska's Tractor Test Lab from the late 1970s through his retirement in 1998. He continued working as volunteer curator at the Larsen Tractor Museum on East Campus. Lou wrote his memoir under the pseudonym "Ben Wajikra" taken from Hebrew words meaning "Son of Leviticus" in memory of Max and Sera Leviticus, his parents. Hear Lou's testimony in his own words.


59 items

Leviticus Family Interview

  • Date: 2023
  • Format: testimony

Searching for Humanity

  • Date: January 11, 2017
  • Format: testimony

Louis and Rose Leviticus

  • Format: photograph
  • Source: In memory of the Leviticus family who perished in the Holocaust and Rudi – who we will never forget

Louis Leviticus Portrait

  • Format: photograph
  • Source: David Radler Photography

Louis Leviticus Speaks to Norfolk Catholic School Students

  • Format: photograph
  • Source: In memory of the Leviticus family who perished in the Holocaust and Rudi – who we will never forget

Louis Leviticus Speaks to Norfolk Catholic School Students

  • Format: photograph
  • Source: In memory of the Leviticus family who perished in the Holocaust and Rudi – who we will never forget

Louis Leviticus Speaks to Norfolk Catholic School Students

  • Format: photograph
  • Source: In memory of the Leviticus family who perished in the Holocaust and Rudi – who we will never forget

Louis Leviticus Speaks to Norfolk Catholic School Students

  • Format: photograph
  • Source: In memory of the Leviticus family who perished in the Holocaust and Rudi – who we will never forget

Louis Leviticus Speaks to Norfolk Catholic School Students

  • Format: photograph
  • Source: In memory of the Leviticus family who perished in the Holocaust and Rudi – who we will never forget

Louis Leviticus Speaks to Norfolk Catholic School Students

  • Format: photograph
  • Source: In memory of the Leviticus family who perished in the Holocaust and Rudi – who we will never forget

Louis Leviticus Speaks to Norfolk Catholic School Students

  • Format: photograph
  • Source: In memory of the Leviticus family who perished in the Holocaust and Rudi – who we will never forget

Louis Leviticus Speaks to Norfolk Catholic School Students

  • Format: photograph
  • Source: In memory of the Leviticus family who perished in the Holocaust and Rudi – who we will never forget

Louis Leviticus Speaks to Norfolk Catholic School Students

  • Format: photograph
  • Source: In memory of the Leviticus family who perished in the Holocaust and Rudi – who we will never forget

Louis Leviticus Speaks to Norfolk Catholic School Students

  • Format: photograph
  • Source: In memory of the Leviticus family who perished in the Holocaust and Rudi – who we will never forget

Louis Leviticus Speaks to Norfolk Catholic School Students

  • Format: photograph
  • Source: In memory of the Leviticus family who perished in the Holocaust and Rudi – who we will never forget

Louis Leviticus Speaks to Norfolk Catholic School Students

  • Format: photograph
  • Source: In memory of the Leviticus family who perished in the Holocaust and Rudi – who we will never forget

Louis Leviticus at Wayne State College

  • Format: photograph
  • Source: In memory of the Leviticus family who perished in the Holocaust and Rudi – who we will never forget

Louis Leviticus at Wayne State College

  • Format: photograph
  • Source: In memory of the Leviticus family who perished in the Holocaust and Rudi – who we will never forget

Louis Leviticus at Wayne State College

  • Format: photograph
  • Source: In memory of the Leviticus family who perished in the Holocaust and Rudi – who we will never forget

Louis Leviticus at Wayne State College

  • Format: photograph
  • Source: In memory of the Leviticus family who perished in the Holocaust and Rudi – who we will never forget

Louis Leviticus at Wayne State College

  • Format: photograph
  • Source: In memory of the Leviticus family who perished in the Holocaust and Rudi – who we will never forget

Louis Leviticus at Wayne State College

  • Format: photograph
  • Source: In memory of the Leviticus family who perished in the Holocaust and Rudi – who we will never forget

Tales from the Milestone

  • Date: 2003
  • Creator(s): Wajikra, Ben
  • Format: book

Lou Leviticus Shoah Foundation Testimony

  • Date: November 19, 1995
  • Format: testimony

Louis Leviticus's Israeli police identity card

  • Source: In memory of the Leviticus family who perished in the Holocaust and Rudi – who we will never forget

Louis Leviticus at Purdue University, 1966

  • Format: photograph
  • Source: In memory of the Leviticus family who perished in the Holocaust and Rudi – who we will never forget

Groep Kaneel 1948, Orphanage

  • Format: photograph
  • Source: In memory of the Leviticus family who perished in the Holocaust and Rudi – who we will never forget

Louis Leviticus portrait

  • Format: photograph
  • Source: In memory of the Leviticus family who perished in the Holocaust and Rudi – who we will never forget

Dalfsen, Mel 1942

  • Format: photograph
  • Source: In memory of the Leviticus family who perished in the Holocaust and Rudi – who we will never forget

Louis Leviticus and mother, 1940

  • Format: photograph
  • Source: In memory of the Leviticus family who perished in the Holocaust and Rudi – who we will never forget

Louis Leviticus' school photograph

  • Format: photograph
  • Source: In memory of the Leviticus family who perished in the Holocaust and Rudi – who we will never forget

Sara Lena Leviticus Passport Photo

  • Format: photograph
  • Source: In memory of the Leviticus family who perished in the Holocaust and Rudi – who we will never forget

Young Louis Leviticus

  • Format: photograph
  • Source: In memory of the Leviticus family who perished in the Holocaust and Rudi – who we will never forget

Louis Leviticus, 1935

  • Format: photograph
  • Source: In memory of the Leviticus family who perished in the Holocaust and Rudi – who we will never forget

Louis Leviticus in Amersfoort, 1933

  • Format: photograph
  • Source: In memory of the Leviticus family who perished in the Holocaust and Rudi – who we will never forget

Louis Leviticus and his mother

  • Format: photograph
  • Source: In memory of the Leviticus family who perished in the Holocaust and Rudi – who we will never forget

Max Leviticus Portrait

  • Format: photograph
  • Source: In memory of the Leviticus family who perished in the Holocaust and Rudi – who we will never forget

Louis Leviticus's mother

  • Format: photograph
  • Source: In memory of the Leviticus family who perished in the Holocaust and Rudi – who we will never forget

Sara ten Bosch's school photograph

  • Format: photograph
  • Source: In memory of the Leviticus family who perished in the Holocaust and Rudi – who we will never forget

Max and Sara Lena Leviticus's Wedding, late 1920s

  • Format: photograph
  • Source: In memory of the Leviticus family who perished in the Holocaust and Rudi – who we will never forget

Louis Leviticus and Gerald Ford

  • Format: photograph
  • Source: In memory of the Leviticus family who perished in the Holocaust and Rudi – who we will never forget

Levitcus Family Home

  • Format: photograph
  • Source: In memory of the Leviticus family who perished in the Holocaust and Rudi – who we will never forget

Synagogue

  • Format: photograph
  • Source: In memory of the Leviticus family who perished in the Holocaust and Rudi – who we will never forget

Louis Leviticus's grandparents

  • Format: photograph
  • Source: In memory of the Leviticus family who perished in the Holocaust and Rudi – who we will never forget

Dutch Drawings

  • Format: cartoon
  • Source: In memory of the Leviticus family who perished in the Holocaust and Rudi – who we will never forget

Dutch Drawings

  • Format: cartoon
  • Source: In memory of the Leviticus family who perished in the Holocaust and Rudi – who we will never forget

Dutch Drawings

  • Format: cartoon
  • Source: In memory of the Leviticus family who perished in the Holocaust and Rudi – who we will never forget

Dutch Drawings

  • Format: cartoon
  • Source: In memory of the Leviticus family who perished in the Holocaust and Rudi – who we will never forget

Dutch Drawings

  • Format: cartoon
  • Source: In memory of the Leviticus family who perished in the Holocaust and Rudi – who we will never forget

Dutch Drawings

  • Format: cartoon
  • Source: In memory of the Leviticus family who perished in the Holocaust and Rudi – who we will never forget
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